This study assayed 18 seed samples of Jerusalem artichoke, sunflower, maize, rice, peanut and marigold (Table 2). Achenes of 12 Jerusalem artichoke genotypes were harvested in 2011 from plants growing in the farm field at Khon Kaen University and JA germplasm was kindly donated by the Plant Genetic Resources of Canada, Saskatoon Research Centre, and by the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Germany. The harvested achenes were air-dried and stored at room temperature, and kept at 4 °C until use. The exocarps were removed to obtain seeds just before the total RNA extraction. The seed samples of peanut and maize were obtained from related breeding programs at Khon Kaen University. The seed samples of sunflower and marigold were acquired from